


Knockturn Alley

by CharmsDealer



Series: The Diagon Alley Fluff AU [7]
Category: hogwarts - Fandom, teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Knockturn Alley, Lost Stiles, set in the present day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 07:33:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1337206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharmsDealer/pseuds/CharmsDealer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Stiles gets separated from Scott and ventures into Knockturn Alley, help comes in an unusual form.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knockturn Alley

By the time he realized he was well and truly lost, Stiles could feel anxiety coiling in his chest and his breathing tightened. He’d gotten separated from Scott when he chased after a pastry cart, only finding out that he was alone when he turned around to hand Scott a pumpkin pasty.

Stiles put up his hood and folded his arms across his chest. The people that he passed stared openly at him with their eyebrows raised and noses slightly crinkled in disgust. He ducked his head and walked faster.

There was a bitter taste in the back of his throat that no amount of swallowing could get rid of. He dug in his pocket for his Nokia, but when he looked at the small screen it flashed a ‘no signal’ at him and he began to panic. He only had ten minutes before he had to meet his dad, but he knew he wasn’t in Diagon Alley anymore. Diagon Alley had been...friendly.

The streets Stiles turned on were sharp and zigzagged so that it was impossible to double back without getting even more turned around. He stumbled on a broken flagstone and bumped into a tall wizard dressed all in black. The man sneered and picked up the corner of his cloak. “Watch where you’re going, _muggle_ ,” he hissed, before turning on his heel and disappearing into thin air. He _felt_ it when the man disappeared, like an invisible ripple that passed through him.

Stiles scrambled to his feet and fled, uncaring of the heads he turned. He hid himself in the space between two shops with chipped paint and blackened windows. The ground was dirty and there was inky blue smoke curling up from the gutter. His legs felt like jelly. He slid down the wall and hugged his knees thinking ‘ _Shit. Shit, shit, shit...’_

Something rustled in the back of the alley and Stiles’ head jerked up. He peered through the darkness and held his breath. A dark shape slunk out from behind a bin and his heart thumped in warning. He kept very still.

“...Ohthankgod.”

Stiles relaxed against the wall and let his arms drop. He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.

“You scared the crap out of me. I thought I was going to get eaten.”

The dog blinked.

“Though, you do look a bit thin. No, don’t curl your lip at me; I’m just saying you could do with a little more padding is all. It’s going to get a lot colder and you look like you’re mostly made of fur, so...” Stiles trailed off with a gesture.

The dog rolled its eyes.

“Hey! That’s a neat trick. But you know, people are always rolling their eyes at me, so that one gets a little old.” Stiles offered the dog the back of his hand, fingers loosely curled. “This is how dogs say hello, right? This is my scent. Hi dog, my scent is Stiles.”

The dog just looked at him. Maybe it just needed a little more encouragement.

“Good dog, friendly dog...” He stretched a little further. “Nice Stiless...gooood Stiles. Stiles friieeend,” he enunciated.

He gave up after a while, letting his arm drop. “Just trying to be polite,” he muttered. “I figure my dad is freaking out right about now. I was supposed to meet him outside the wand shop five minutes ago. Nobody around here seems that interested in giving me directions.”

The dog sat perfectly still, muddy-green eyes fixed on Stiles. It was kind of strange, but Stiles found that he didn’t mind. He found himself staring right back. He noticed that the dog wasn’t wearing a collar.

“I bet somebody out there is worried for you, too. Even if it’s someone you haven’t met yet.”

The dog huffed.

“Oh, so you _are_ listening? Wag one for yes, two for no.” He looked at the dog expectantly. “Okay, that was a long shot, but maybe you’re a magic dog. Stranger things have happened.”

The decidedly-not-magic dog decided it was bored listening to him and stood up, shaking out its soot-coloured fur. Stiles’ lips twisted in a mockery of a smile. “What, no good-bye?”

The dog stopped at the lip of the alley and looked over its shoulder. It paused and then took another few steps, waiting for Stiles to follow.

Stiles stood up and wiped some of the grit off of the seat of his jeans. “This probably only happens in movies, but I don’t really have much of a plan here, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

The dog stopped every now and then to let Stiles catch up. It moved quickly through the zigzag streets like it owned them. Stiles’ surroundings gradually became more familiar and the dog’s pace slowed until they were walking side by side. Stiles thought he felt the ghost of fur brush against his hand once, and it sent a shiver of pins and needles up his arm. Spooky.

Melissa and his dad were standing outside Ollivanders looking worried. Scott was hanging his head and Stiles felt really bad for running off without him.

When his dad caught sight of him he marched over. “Where were you?” He demanded. “I tried calling your phone but I couldn’t get through.”

“There wasn’t any signal- Hey, Dad, look, I met this dog!” Stiles turned around to show off his new friend- it _was_ a magic dog after all, he decided- but there was no sign of it. “Oh,” he said, disappointed. “I didn’t get to say thank you.”

Melissa gave him a quick look-over and Stiles handed the squashed pastry to Scott as an apology.

 

* * *

 

In Knockturn Alley, a man waited outside Borgin and Burkes. He smiled pleasantly at the few passersby, but there was a hint of challenge in his cool blue eyes and a dangerous curl to his lips. People moved by him very quickly.

He heard light steps behind him and a moment later boy emerged from the dark of the alley. “Ah, nephew, I was wondering when you would turn up.”

The man turned around slowly, doing little to hide his smirk. He enjoyed the perpetually disgruntled look on the boy’s face. It was the eyebrows that did it; they really were unfortunate. “Do try to look cheerful, you’ll be rid of me indefinitely while I’m off on sabbatical.”

The boy looked away sullenly.

“Oh, come now. Sulking doesn’t become you.”

“I’m not sulking.”

“Of course you’re not,” the man said, “And I haven’t been waiting here for an hour while you were off chasing rats, or whatever it is you do while you’re fluffy.” He waved his hand at the alarmed glare that his nephew shot him and gestured to the door. “Shall we?”

The boy sighed, “yes uncle,” and followed the man into the shop.


End file.
